Inside the Alaa M. Trial #3: So, it’s all fake? – Yes.
TRIAL OF ALAA M.
Higher Regional Court – Frankfurt, Germany
Trial Monitoring Summary #3
Hearing Date: February 3, 2022
CAUTION: Some testimony includes descriptions of torture.
Note that this summary is not a verbatim transcript of the trial; it is merely an unofficial summary of the proceedings.
Throughout this summary, [information located in brackets are notes from our trial monitor] and “information placed in quotes are statements made by the witness, judges or counsel.” The names of witnesses have been redacted.
Highlights:
Day 4 – February 3, 2022
The Judges continued to question the defendant regarding the subject matter of the case. What the defense team announced as a brief clarification by the defendant on his various CVs turned into a more than 2.5-hour-long questioning by the Judges. Proceedings were eventually adjourned to “process the wealth of new information,” including M.’s submission of “fake” documents to Syrian and German authorities and potential employers. The sketches of Syrian military hospitals that M. provided to the Court will be discussed on the following trial day. The defense team announced that it would only talk about M.’s explanation about why the allegations were brought against him at a later stage of the trial.
Trial Day 4 – February 3, 2022
The proceedings began at 10:08AM at the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt (Main), Germany with 8 spectators and 8 journalists in the audience. One cameraman took videos inside the courtroom before the start of the session.
Judges’ Questioning
In relation to his written CVs that were previously discussed in court, M. added that he did not use the word ‘military’ when applying for a visa and used “Tishreen Hospital” as an umbrella term for all military hospitals in Syria. The Judges then questioned M. on discrepancies between his CVs and what he previously told the Court. M. confirmed that he was working at different military hospitals in Syria between early 2011 and summer 2014, however, he used an umbrella term instead of listing individual hospitals in the CV that he submitted for his visa application. He also told the Court that there is a template for work certificates that was recommended to him by Syrian doctors in Germany. M. said he used this template and only mentioned his last place of work, a civilian hospital in Damascus, when applying for medical approbation in Germany. M. described that his friends helped him to create a work certificate, including false information and false signature, for M. to use for applications in Germany. M. said this was necessary because he was fired from the military hospitals and not given a work certificate.
Regarding further work certificates detailing false information, M. explained that he was afraid not to get a job in Germany when stating that he worked at military hospitals. He said he never did any military service, and it would have required many documents to prove to people that he was never a member of the military. M. also confirmed that other documents that were discussed in Court were predominately fake as well. The Judges’ questioning then focused on solving discrepancies between M.’s CVs, other documents, and his move from military hospitals to a civilian hospital. When confronted with charges against him, M. denied them.
Proceedings were adjourned at 12:46PM.
The next trial day will take place on February 8, 2022.
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